Stuck!

Sunny gave us a little unwanted excitement this afternoon.  We were just about to leave to the store and as I walked outside I saw Sunny kick up (in response to Rogan and him play biting) and catch his hind end over the fence.  He immediately froze and did not struggle. I called Graham and we first put Rogan away so he stopped antagonizing the situation.  Then I haltered Sunny and we quickly assessed the situation. We initially put a readily available hay bale under Sunny's hind legs to see if he could push himself up; this did not work and I was concerned about Graham's and my safety as we maneuvered his hind legs.  Next, Graham tried to pry the board off which was also unsuccessful. Sunny continued to remain perfectly still. I then administrated a light sedative and Graham went for the chain saw. (I took the photo while waiting for the chain saw).  This was working until the board started to vibrate which startled Sunny into lunging forward and pulling the board off the post.  He was free!!  He was free within 5 minutes (definitely less than 10 minutes) of becoming stuck.  Most of the pressure had been on his left flank and groin. He has a few superficial scrapes on his left gaskin, but seems a little more stiff on the right hind a few hours later.  His legs and joints all palpate and feel okay without significant swelling several hours later.  He completely ripped out all of his stitches from his sarcoid mass removal, and it was gaping open, slowly dripping blood.  On a positive note, he already had his anti-inflammatory (Equioxx) on-board from the mass removal.. Now he gets antibiotics too! Oh boy! I added a little more sedation, scrubbed the area with chlorhexidine solution and used up the last of the lidocaine which unfortunately only blocked about 1/2 of the opened incision.  I gathered my clean, but not-yet re-sterilized surgical tools (yet another reason for the antibiotics), some spare/expired small animal strength suture (should still be sterile) and went to work.  It closed well and I added a row of staples for some extra (hopefully) holding power. 

A few positives -

1. I was amazed at how calm and sensible Sunny stayed, he truly waited for us to help him and did not panic (this also bodes well for my safety during adverse events at rides)

  

2. I truly think he is okay and will heal very well, though I except him to be pretty stiff for the next few days (and of course I will be keeping a very close eye on him). 

 Give us a few weeks (about 3 weeks exactly, wink wink) and we should be all set for the 55 at No Frills.  

The re-sutured surgical site